How to Turn Off Apple TV

Done using your Apple TV and want to turn it off? Maybe the Apple TV is on but you’re finished with it and need to turn it off with your TV? No sweat, but the Apple TV isn’t like your average device with an off and on switch, as you may have noticed by now.

Instead of turning Apple TV off in the traditional sense, you’ll actually be putting the device into a sleep mode where it’s effectively off until you go to use it again, when it will turn itself back on. Sound confusing? It’s not, it’s actually really easy.

First, realize that Apple TV will turn itself off, or rather, put itself to sleep, after a period of inactivity. So if you haven’t used it in a while and turn off the TV, it will power down itself. You can also manually sleep the Apple TV through the remote control, and from the Settings app as well.

Turning Off Apple TV (4th Generation) with the Remote

To turn off the newest Apple TV model with a Siri Remote, just do the following:

1. Press and hold the Home button for five seconds (the Home button on Apple TV remote looks like a little TV or box)
2. At the sleep screen, choose Sleep Now to turn off Apple TV immediately

Turning it back on again is just a matter of using the remote again and hitting the Home button. It doesn’t restart, it wakes back up for use again, which is basically like turning it on again.

How to Turn Off Apple TV (3rd Gen and Prior) with the Remote

To turn off the earlier model Apple TV with a traditional Apple TV Remote:

• Press and hold the Play / Pause button for five seconds to turn off Apple TV

The play and pause button on the older Apple TV remote looks like your standard play and pause button, with the sideways triangle.

How to Turn Off Apple TV from Settings

The other option is to put the Apple TV to sleep from the Settings app, which turns it off immediately:

• Open the Settings app on Apple TV and choose “Sleep Now”

Once Apple TV is ‘sleeping’ it’s effectively off, and it will stay that way until you power it up again. That may sound a little strange, but it works similar to sleeping a Mac or many other devices, where it’s basically off and draws virtually no power.

One final thing to keep in mind is that you can adjust how fast the Apple TV turns itself off automatically after a period of inactivity. To do that, go to Settings, then to “General” and adjust the “Sleep After” setting to fit your preferences.